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Art

The National Museum of American History is not an art museum. But works of art fill its collections and testify to the vital place of art in everyday American life. The ceramics collections hold hundreds of examples of American and European art glass and pottery. Fashion sketches, illustrations, and prints are part of the costume collections. Donations from ethnic and cultural communities include many homemade religious ornaments, paintings, and figures. The Harry T Peters "America on Stone" collection alone comprises some 1,700 color prints of scenes from the 1800s. The National Quilt Collection is art on fabric. And the tools of artists and artisans are part of the Museum's collections, too, in the form of printing plates, woodblock tools, photographic equipment, and potters' stamps, kilns, and wheels.

Charcoal with brush and ink wash. Horizontal landscape format. Several buildings and trees in background; four pieces of field artillery going into action. Soldiers standing at each canon. Pile of shot on the ground in the left of the sketch. Sketch done on white wove paper mounted on beige card with decorative ruled lines in graphite on the mount.

Graphite, charcoal, and ink wash sketch. Five officers sit around a table while another soldier serves them. The chair in the foreground is empty. On the table, a lamp illuminates the men's faces and casts shadows on the walls. A box telephone and two bottles of wine are among the items on the table. The sketch is done on white wove paper mounted on beige card that is ruled with decorative graphite lines.

Very light ink wash and brush with touches of graphite. This interior scene is framed by the sloping roof of a loft. In the left foreground, a soldier sits on a cot holding his gun. A sword hangs on the wall in the right of the sketch. Two more soldiers can be seen through a doorway on the back wall of the loft. The sketch is done on beige wove paper mounted on beige card which is ruled in graphite. A label below the sketch, mounted on the card, reads: "AMERICAN SOLDIERS/Quartered in the loft of an old barn on the/outskirts of Chateau Thierry/BY W. J. DUNCAN/TRANSFERRED FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT/2847"

Graphite, brush and ink wash sketch. Sketch of trucks lined up in a town square. People and soldiers are depicted; one woman with a child carries an umbrella. Two small dogs in front of the line of trucks. Hills and clouds in background. Sketch is done on white wove paper that is affixed to a larger piece of off-white card.

Graphite, brush and ink wash, and black crayon sketch. Village scene of a road and a large building. Three men walk down the road followed by a third carrying a rifle. Tall smokestack, emitting smoke, in background. Two women in the far left of the drawing. The sketch is done on off-white wove paper that is mounted on off-white card. There is a label that is affixed to the bottom edge of the sketch and also the card mount. It is glued over another typed label.

Pen and ink wash sketch with touches of graphite. Hills and battleground in distance. In the foreground, houses are being shelled; smoke rises from the shell targets. Parachutists in sky at left. The sketch is done on white wove paper mounted on tan card ruled with decorative lines. A printed label is attached to the mount beneath the sketch; it reads: "VIEW OF CHATEAU THIERRY/BY W. J. DUNCAN/TRANSFERRED FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT/2862"

Charcoal drawing on paper. The focal point of the drawing is a large machine. The drawing is framed by a pipeline on the left. On the right, in the background, are a set of stairs and more equipment. The catalog card reads: "The entire plant, one of the largest in existence, was brought over and constructed by Americans."

Charcoal drawing on paper. A large chateau sits in the center of the sketch. There is a telegraph pole at the right edge of the drawing. From the catalog card: "'This Chateau was long used as a German Headquarters and when this drawing was made (Sept. 16th) it was the H.q. of our 29th Division.' (original label)" Although the catalog card says Sept. 16th, the artist's signature says "Aug 19 ; 18."

Pencil and ink wash sketch on paper. In the foreground, a damaged bridge extends halfway across a river. Soldiers in the river are repairing the bridge. In the background, buildings line the far bank of the river.